Blow A Kiss, Fire A Gun
by thewondergays
Summary: Where do you turn when the world is coming to an end? When society is crumbling, and imminent death lurks around every corner, you have to follow your heart, because when every breath may be your last you don't have time to worry about what's right and what's easy. You have to be true to yourself, and love like each day will be your last, but remember: soulmates never die. FTWD AU.


**Chapter 1**

 **A/N:** I never know how to start these notes, but here we go. We hope you enjoy our fic, it was written as a collaborative work. It's our first time writing like this, so be gentle and give us some time to work things out. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, however.

This is set right after the end of the first season of Fear The Walking Dead, and we will be disregarding the events of the second season (and on) entirely. We started writing this before the second season premiered, and neither of us has continued watching (oops...)

We hope you enjoy!

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Though it may have only been her opinion, Elyza always felt like the Pacific and Atlantic were two entirely different animals. Not just in depth, or size, or because they existed on opposite sides of the continent. The great blue expanse of the Pacific ocean would always lack that familiarity for her, even though it reminded her of the ocean coastline that she had grown up with, it wasn't the same in California as it was in Maine. She could close her eyes and listen to the waves breaking against the rocks, feel the seafoam washing up on the shore, water rushing over her feet and the wind whipping along the beach and bluffs, and she could pretend that it was the same.

But she would always know that she was only fooling herself. She just wanted that familiarity.

There were only a few things that she could really be sure about these days. Her name was Elyza Lex, she was eighteen years old, and she might never feel that familiarity and comfort of home again. And she was alive, which was more than she could say for a lot of people, her parents and her little brother included. Everyone that she knew, really. If they weren't dead, then they were assumed dead, but what could be done about any of that now? There was no sense in crying over spilled milk, that was what her mother always said to her, though she personally thought that it was kind of a stupid turn of phrase.

Sure, there was no reason to cry over spilled milk, but there were lots of things to cry over. Real, legitimate reasons to cry that couldn't just be wiped away as easily as that. Like your entire family being as good as dead, for example. She felt so numb by now, it was hard for the tears to even come anymore. It was easier to harden herself than it was to let those feelings out in the open.

The only time she really felt like crying was standing on the shore, with the ocean washing up around her ankles and sprinkling her face with stray drops of salt water. It felt so familiar, so much like home, but it just wasn't. She could try to fool herself, but the illusion only stretched so far. The beach seemed safe at least, and quiet. That was an important attribute for an area to have if she was going to hunker down there for an extended period of time. Even if she wished it was the Atlantic, Elyza realized now that she loved the ocean and the beach, no matter where she was.

The last three weeks of her life were like a blur. It was something horrific she could replay in her mind if she wanted, but she chose to avoid thinking about. It was easier not to think about it, further away from the city, away from the smell and the smoke and the sick and the dying and the dead, but she could only go so long without thinking about it, because it wasn't as if she could live any other way now. There was no other way to live than living on edge, on alert. If she let her guard down, for even a second, it could mean the end of her life.

It would mean a waste of the sacrifice that her parents had made, to see her and her brother survive. He was gone now too, so she had to be the one to make it.

It had been hard enough moving across the country, living in a new city, being the new face at a new school, but her mundane first world problems felt laughable now. She had been inconvenienced by leaving Portland, all the people and places that she had grown up with, and moving to east Los Angeles - a sprawling metropolis that intimidated her just with it's sheer size at times. But inconvenienced was all that she had been, because she understood that her mother's new job was important to her, that it would have made her more money, put their family in a more stable position.

She hadn't been happy about it, but she been resigned to it, and she had really been trying to make the best of it.

She hadn't been scared until the night that her mother came home from the hospital, her face ashen and unsmiling, and she told them all to pack their bags. Elyza hadn't been able to understand how, or why, they could be moving again so soon; she remembered wondering if something had gone wrong with her mom's new job, if she had gotten fired or something. Her mother wouldn't say, she remembered that. Her father never yelled at her, but he yelled at her that night, after she had taken too long in packing her bag.

That had been unsettling enough, but she wasn't actually afraid until they tried to leave their subdivision that same night, and they were told that they couldn't go. They were going to go home, back to Maine, to leave Los Angeles and whatever was consuming it, but Elyza realized on that night that they would never have the chance. And she knew by now that whatever was consuming LA, was probably doing the same thing to the city and people that she knew back on the east coast.

The weeks under military protection had at least been safe, if boring. Safe, compared to what was happening outside. There wasn't much to see, but she wasn't stupid. What news did get in, and what information did slip by, was enough to piece together what was going on. Her parents nerves had been threadbare as the days wore on, but they seemed insistent that the military would help, that there was no better help.

Tensions were high between her neighbours and the soldiers during the quarantine, but Elyza wouldn't have believed that the military would turn their guns on civilians, until it actually happened. Then it was too late and, as her mother used to say, it was like crying over spilled milk. Or spilled blood, in this case.

Even now, she wanted to believe that it only happened to them, that it was a freak case of one battalion gone bad. It was hard to accept that the United States military had turned on the people they were supposed to be protecting. It would mean accepting that the entire world had irrevocably changed, and that the entire system of the world that she knew was gone to hell. Elyza didn't know if she was ready to accept all that just yet.

But she knew that she was going to have to accept it before too much longer. Everyday out here was only making it harder and harder to deny the harshness of her reality.

The soldiers had killed _her_ mother and father in their home when they refused to leave when ordered, and they had shot her brother down like an animal after the two of them scaled the fence at the end of the street, and tried to make a run for it. She knew that much without a shadow of a doubt. She didn't know about the rest of LA, or the other subdivisions, or the other soldiers, but she knew about her home, and her family, and she knew what happened to them. The order of losing them would be forever imprinted in her memory.

She hadn't stuck around to watch the three of them die, but she had seen all of them get shot, seen them all fall, and in her heart, she knew that they were all gone. In her heart, she knew that all three of them had wanted her to keep running, so that was what she kept doing, even now.

It helped that there wasn't much else to do except to keep running, especially when she was on her own. It was the days after she lost her family, when she was first starting out all on her own, that were the most like a blur. She knew that she was lucky to be alive, and she had to keep on fighting to stay alive, but those initial days of loneliness had been like being in a fugue state. She took refuge and protection where she could. She kept moving forward, and kept to herself and out of sight, but she was never really sure where she was going.

She didn't even know exactly why she had gone it to the coast, with it's bluffs and expensive homes perched high upon them, except that maybe she was drawn there. Even if it couldn't be the Atlantic, she felt a pull toward the calming sound of the waves and the rising and falling tides of the ocean water anyway.

She was comforted by the fact that, even with all the chaos of mankind, the oceans of the world would keep on, undisturbed and unyielding. It was like no matter what man was facing on land, the ocean was always the same, reliable and strong and not to be messed with. And familiar.. the closest thing that Elyza could get to familiar enough, anyway. She really just had to close her eyes to pretend. It wasn't as if she were in the position to be choosy anyway.

The beach was serene, and relatively free of people, both alive and dead. She had a small camp set up among some rocks, back far enough that the water wouldn't lap at her while she tossed and turned at night. She was still afraid to make fires at night, but overall, it was good. It was as good as it was going to get, for a while anyway. There was a part of herself, under the numbness that came with accepting her situation, that still wanted to believe that help could still come. Her family was gone, yes, but help could still come for her. She would never be the same, but maybe it wouldn't be impossible to live a normal life again, someday.

She wanted to believe that in a few weeks time, real help would roll in, the National Guard or something, and the city would be liberated, saved. There would be help for the sick, and defense for the weak, and everything would be set right and proper again. Much of the city would need to be rebuilt and repaired, of course, and the other cities that had been reporting outbreaks would need help too, but.. help could still come, couldn't it? Help would come, and she would feel like a fool for hiding out on the beach for weeks, eating canned pears and dehydrated rations that she had managed to liberate from a surplus store with the windows smashed out of it.

She wanted to believe that it could be true, but the truth was, she had always been more of a realist and the realistic side of her was telling her that things would never be the same. Help wasn't coming, for her or anyone else. There was no cure for the sick, no protection for anyone.

Elyza trekked further along the beach sometimes, careful and cautious, and she thought often about venturing up to the top of the bluffs, to raid one of the extravagant mansions that were up there overlooking the majestic ocean view. Although, whenever she thought about it, she felt a little bit antsy about what might be waiting for her. One of the undeniable realities of life now, was the distinct change in the nature of other people.

It had taken no time at all for a lot of the population of LA to take on the mentality of every-man-for-himself when anarchy took over. She was only one girl, and a girl that had been through a lot in the last few weeks.

She was mentally wasted, and physically drained, and she really didn't think that she could realistically take on a better prepared adversary in her current state. Especially one that might be in better shape, someone trying to protect their own stronghold, in the form of one of those beautiful hilltop homes. Her canned fruit and tasteless army rations would only last so long, and they were already running low. She knew that she would have to give up her beach side camp soon, and move onto something or somewhere else, but she was reluctant.

The ocean and the relative calmness of the shore were a comfort that she didn't feel ready to give up yet, and having no concrete plan on where to go next anyway felt like a good enough reason to hesitate and procrastinate about leaving it. The world was her theoretical oyster, she could go anywhere she wanted. She had no family and no responsibility to anyone...yet the idea of facing it, all alone terrified her even through that layer of numbness and apathy she felt. How was she supposed to face a brave new world with nothing to fight for but herself? What was the point of it all?

She would probably die before she reached the city limits, even if she geared up to get out of the city and head for the desert or something. It would never work, not alone. It would almost be more peaceful to starve to death on a beautiful beach, than to face the violent and unknown, like the kind of bad that was lurking back in the city core. It would be a depressing way to go, sure, but it would be more peaceful than being torn limb from limb by another human being. She'd seen a lot of that on her way to the shore, and that certainly wasn't how she wanted to die. It almost made her thankful, in a morbid way, that her family was shot dead instead. It was a cleaner death than some of what she'd witnessed already.

Elyza wanted, ideally, to die on her own terms, but she had no idea what those terms were yet. She had no gun, no plan, dwindling supplies, and a lot on her mind. She also had a safe camp for the time being, and endless time to consider her options.

Her concept of time wasn't the greatest since leaving her house, and none of their clocks at home had been right after the power went out the first time anyway, but she was pretty sure that it was her third day on the beach when she heard the single gunshot. It was close, closer than she expected anyone to be to her little hideaway, but still far away enough that she wasn't entirely unnerved. It set her on edge enough though, as she sat crouched under her makeshift tent, listening to the echo of the shot bouncing off the cliffs.

She spent the rest of that day, and following night, wide awake in her tent, waiting to see if someone would approach her on the sandy shore, maybe wielding a gun. No one ever came. On the morning of the fourth day, or what she was pretty sure was the fourth day, Elyza went looking for the source herself. She was unsure at first, but it didn't take long to convince herself that looking for something was better than spending another day doing nothing.

Maybe the gunslinger would be alone like her, and two loners would no longer really be loners once they united, would they? If she found someone else, maybe more than one someone else, she wouldn't have to be alone anymore. On the other hand, she realized that she could be walking into a dangerous situation, all of her own volition. Gun wielding maniacs were definitely still a thing, more of a thing than ever maybe. But, did maniacs only fire one shot?

For all she knew, whoever had fired that gun the day before could already be gone and moved along from the beach anyway. For all she knew, that single shot might have been for the gun owner themselves. The only real way to tell find out, was to go and investigate.

If nothing else, she might be able to acquire the gun, or a left behind campsite. Or some knowledge of who else was now prowling around here.

What she hadn't been expecting to encounter, however, was the first thing that she ran into that morning of exploring.

Elyza had been scrambling over ridges of rock for no more than ten or fifteen minutes, when the most unfamiliar - yet familiar - sound found its way to her ears. It had been over a week since she had heard much of anything other than the sounds of the ocean and her own internal musings. She hadn't used her own voice in just as long. She hadn't heard music in even longer, probably since before the military had come barging into the city, and the gentle sound of it caught her attention immediately. It was faint, very faint, but there and growing louder as she kept on walking.

When she stepped around a cropping of rocks, she stopped in her tracks, upon spying the source of the music sitting just on the other side of the rocks. There was a brunette girl who looked about her own age, with her back facing Elyza and a pair of earbuds, one earphone in and the other hanging free down the front of her shirt, emitting the music that Elyza had heard as soon as she got close enough.

She hesitated, even though the girl was clearly alive, because the girl also didn't seem to notice her right away. She supposed that was how she had survived this long on her own so far though; being as quiet and unnoticeable as possible. The music distracting the girl probably had something to do with it as well. She didn't want to startle her, the first living person that she had seen in days, but Elyza also didn't want to just turn away now that she had finally found someone.

Two loners weren't really alone if they united, right? Besides that, the girl quite clearly had good taste in music from what Elyza could overhear from standing a couple of feet away, and she found that she _wanted_ to talk to her.

"Is that Stevie Nicks?" She asked her, in a voice that sounded like a croak. Her throat felt dry and sore, underused, and it came across in her cracking voice. But still, they felt like the first normal words that had left her mouth since this whole thing started, and she felt the involuntary tug of a smile at the corner of her lips. That felt even more foreign than speaking out loud did.

The girl obviously didn't hear Elyza walking up behind her, because when she spoke, the brunette immediately whipped around. She scrambled to her feet, backing up a few steps as she studied Elyza from head to toe. Her lips formed into a small frown, and she clutched her phone to her chest as if she thought Elyza was going to take it from her.

"Yeah, it's Stevie," she said. She eyed Elyza, looking wary. "Who the fuck are you? You're not sick, are you?"

Elyza didn't know what she had been expecting the other girl's reaction to be exactly, but something about the defensiveness of it made her falter. She felt wary herself, as the brunette looked her over, and she realized that she probably looked like a disheveled mess. She had managed to wash most of the blood off herself in the ocean, some of it her own but most of it not, but her clothes were still tattered and stained from her ordeal.

A clean change of clothes was something that she hadn't thought much about when she had scavenged for the few supplies that she had stuffed in her backpack. Now, she kind of wished that she had thought of it. She hadn't seen someone alive in so many days, she almost forgot about looking presentable. She probably did look half dead between her attire and her pallid face. No wonder the girl was reacting the way she was.

"It's okay, I'm not- no, I'm not sick," She insisted, holding up her hands in front of herself in defense. Her hands were wrapped tightly in bandages, the palms underneath still healing from the barbed wire that had cut into them as she had scaled that fence during her escape from her quarantined neighbourhood. If this girl was the gun owner from the day before, Elyza was hoping that she didn't have an itchy trigger finger.

It would be a shame to be shot just for sneaking up on somebody, after everything she had already lived through.

Maybe she was harmless though, just someone's spoiled daughter, someone who lived up on the bluffs in one of those massive mansions. The brunette didn't look impressed with her, but the other girl did at least look like she was in better shape than Elyza did, like she'd had somewhat of an easier time in all this. The girl actually looked like she had showered recently, for one. She wasn't covered in blood or grime, and her hair wasn't greasy or matted. Her clothing was certainly a hell of a lot cleaner than Elyza's was as well. Either the brunette was taking good care of herself, or someone else was.

"I'm Elyza," The blonde offered, only a little hesitantly. "I didn't.. look, I didn't mean to scare you, alright? No harm, no foul. I didn't know you were here."

It wasn't a lie, really. She had been following the sound from the day before, but she didn't know that this girl would be what, or who, she would find at the end of her search.

The brunette seemed lot less defensive once the blonde confirmed that she wasn't sick. She took a moment to turn the music playing on her phone off, to save her precious battery life, and pulled out her headphones completely. She studied the blonde girl a little closer while she wrapped them around her hand to keep them from tangling. She stuffed her phone and headphones in her jacket pocket.

"Alicia," she offered back. "It's cool. At least it was you, and not one of those… things."

Elyza couldn't explain how she knew it, but somehow, she realized as she stood there facing the brunette, that she didn't really feel threatened by Alicia at all. They had exchanged no more than first names, but she still felt like the girl wasn't threat to her in the slightest. It wasn't even because Alicia looked weak, or physically inadequate in any way. She was actually probably in better fighting shape than Elyza at the moment, since she didn't look nearly as run down as the blonde felt.

She just got a sudden inexplicable feeling that the brunette meant her no harm, and would do her no harm. At least not intentionally. Maybe it was just the fact that she was on her own, and she appeared to be around Elyza's own age, the first real contemporary that she had run into in a long time, that made her seem less threatening to the blonde. Maybe it was something else, but either way, she couldn't put her finger on it.

The longer they stood their ground and studied each other more closely, in their mock standoff on the rocks, the more sure of it Elyza became of it all. She couldn't really explain it, because she knew that she didn't know anyone named Alicia, she'd never even laid eyes on this girl before now. But there was still something about her, something nagging and undeniably comforting about her.

It was absurd, considering that they had literally only spoken a few words to each other so far, but she couldn't shake it. The way the brunette was staring at her, seeming to stare right through her, wasn't helping.

Alicia started after a moment, and shoved her hands in her jacket. She seemed to realize that she was just staring at the other girl, and looked away. Elyza didn't miss the way her cheeks burned scarlet as she looked out at the sea.

"Alicia," Elyza repeated, as the other girl turned away from her. "Pretty girl, pretty name." She remarked, finding herself almost grinning, despite the fact that she hadn't really felt like smiling in a couple of weeks now. That was weird too, how easily this girl was bringing that smile out of her. She felt her smile falter only when Alicia brought up those _things_ out there.

Not things, people. They were people, she was still trying to remind herself. Or they had been once.

"Believe me, I'm pretty glad that I'm not one of them," the blonde muttered. "And I'm glad you're not either. But you know, I kind of figured that once I got close enough.. either you were a live one, or you were a biter with really good taste in music."

"Yeah, well if you ask me, those… biters have terrible taste in everything." Alicia replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the corner of her lips though, as Elyza told her she had a pretty name. This whole interaction was so high school, she had almost forgotten about the actual reality of the situation around them. She certainly hadn't felt so light hearted in days, especially not after the last seventy two hours.

In fact, Alicia had convinced herself outside of her snide snarky smirks, she wasn't going to smile again. Not after Matt, not after they took Nick, not after Ofelia lost her mother, and especially not after Travis shot Elizabeth, but then this girl Elyza had shown up. They had barely exchanged names, and Alicia still couldn't help the way her heart fluttered when she looked into those blue eyes, or the way something as simple and insignificant as hearing "pretty name" made Alicia smile like she had never lost anything.

"But thank you anyway," she added finally. She looked at the ground, embarrassed. " At least someone on this stupid beach appreciates good music."

She glanced back to Elyza, and made accidental eye contact with the blonde. She could feel her cheeks getting a little warm, so she looked away again, and gave her a small sheepish smile. "Are you all alone out here?" Alicia asked her.

Elyza didn't really want to, but she reluctantly turned away and broke their accidental eye contact as soon as Alicia did. She didn't want to make this any weirder than it already was, and risk making the other girl bolt away or something.

"Just me," Elyza told her, turning a little and vaguely gesturing back toward the way she had come from. "Down on the beach a little ways, I have a little… well, I'm camping, I don't know if I'd call it _a real_ camp exactly.." The spot wasn't outfitted with much of anything besides her meager belongings, she didn't even have much of a fire pit there. It was mostly just her supplies and a bedroll, all piled under a makeshift tent that she had rigged up and made from a tarp. But it was easy to travel with, at least.

"I'm camping down there...for now, anyway," Elyza shrugged.

"What about your family?" Alicia asked. She wished she could take it back the second she said it. She had glanced in the general direction that Elyza had pointed to, before looking back at the blonde girl herself. As much as her family irritated her, she couldn't imagine being with them and being alone in all of this.

"Sorry, you don't have to answer that. I'm just still getting used to, all of this," Alicia gestured around them vaguely.

Elyza would have much preferred to keep talking about music, the smalltalk was easier than seriously talking, even if smalltalk felt strange in the scheme of everything else going on in the world. She couldn't really think straight when Alicia asked about her family. She had been doing such a good job of pushing all of that down. Without anyone else around her, there really hadn't been anyone around that cared enough to ask, and being asked suddenly dredged up a lot more buried emotions than the blonde would have liked to show.

She hadn't realized that she had been just sort of staring blankly out toward the ocean, until Alicia awkwardly apologized for the question and snapped her out of it. She managed a weak smile as the brunette stepped a little closer. "Oh, no I- seriously, it's okay. It's all totally fucking weird, it's.. hard to get used to all this. Don't be sorry," Elyza insisted, before she actually answered the brunette's question. There was no sense in running from it forever.

"No family," Elyza confirmed, leaving it at that, while she tried to keep her face stoic. "Just me."

Alicia frowned at that answer and her brow furrowed, her eyebrows drawn together in worry. "You want to come back with me and get something to eat? Maybe a shower? I don't know if you're one of those, go it alone types or whatever, but you're always welcome to join up with us."

"I mean, my mom and brother are there, and so is her boyfriend and his son.. and some other people." Alicia explained further. She was just rambling now. "I don't really know what our plan is exactly, but I'm sure you can come along if you want to."

"You want the girl you just met to come back to your place and take a shower?" Elyza asked her skeptically, raising an eyebrow at Alicia, and feeling that easy smile tugging at her lips again.

"Cheeky. I'm tempted to take you up on your offer.. but how do I know you're on the level, love? Like, how do I know you're not trying to lure me back to your lair so you can take advantage of my nubile young body?" She teased the brunette girl. She was unable to even finish her teasing, really, without laughing a little.

It felt good to laugh, that light and airy feeling was like a bit of weight lifting off her chest. Quite honestly, some real food and potentially a real shower did sound appealing as well. Hopefully Alicia's group might have something to eat other than nonperishable food, she was getting sick to death of canned fruit for every meal, though she had a feeling that she was going to have to get over that in the coming weeks and just come to terms with it.

"What?" Alicia sputtered. "I'm not-" She held her hands up and waved them as if that would dismiss the idea. Her face was as red as the blood spattered across Elyza's shirt, the color reaching all the way to the tips of her ears. "You're just like, covered in blood and shit. God! I was just offering!" She crossed her arms across her chest again and wrinkled her nose.

"Unbunch your panties, I was kidding! Jesus, chill out," Elyza laughed at her in return, "I clearly know I need a shower," she added, because it wasn't exactly untrue. She imagined she must have smelled a little ripe, even after spending time rinsing off in the ocean. But she didn't mind poking fun at herself a little too, mostly so that Alicia didn't feel too bullied by her antics. This girl was just proving to be way fun to get a rise out of, that was all.

The brunette was too cute when she got all clammed up like that, just standing there, all irritated with her arms crossed over her chest.

Elyza offered her hand out to Alicia, unsure if she wanted the other girl to shake it, hold it, or fistbump it. She was just offering a truce of some kind, of whatever kind.

"I'll come along with you, but try to keep your sinful desires to yourself, okay? I'm serious," Elyza teased the other girl,before laughing all over again. She was finding herself positively delighted with just how worked up Alicia seemed to get when the blonde picked at her. She was too easy, honestly. Elyza was a little less afraid of scaring her off now that they had agreed to team up, and she was already getting a little more comfortable with trying to get Alicia's goat a little more. She wanted to point out just how adorable Alicia looked when she blushed that way, but she refrained, at least for the moment.

"I swear I'm not going to like, feel you up or something. I think I can keep my _sinful desires_ to myself, thanks." Alicia said in her own defense, rolling her eyes. She reached out and grabbed Elyza's hand before she could convince herself not to. "Girls aren't really my thing anyway, sorry."

"Whatever you say, princess," Elyza shrugged. "I said I'll go. If you give me your word that it's safe.. and if we can go back and get my bag first." There were some things in that bag that weren't replaceable. Not many things, but a few mementos that she had managed to hang onto, things she didn't want to lose now.

"Besides," Elyza went on, as she began to lead the two of them back along the rocks that she had scaled to get up to where Alicia had been sitting. "Do you really think I would actually say no if a cutie like you wanted to join me in the shower anyway? I'm not blind, you know. I'd let you in."

She had two perfectly working eyes, and it didn't take a genius to see that Alicia was more than a little beautiful. She knew that she probably sounded like the predatory one now, after all of her joking about the brunette and her supposed lair, but what she said was true and for the most part, Elyza tried to be into telling the truth.

"You wish," Alicia grumbled in response. "And don't fucking call me that."

"Obviously I must wish a little, duh. Why else would I put it out there? Free advertising?" Elyza retorted easily, though the sassiness of Alicia's quick reply had both amused and surprised her a little.

She liked this girl, she liked her spunk, and she liked her attitude even if it was a little snarky. She liked someone that could hold their own, and even though Alicia was clearly easily flustered by her, Alicia also clearly liked to get the last word as well. Elyza liked to have a little competition. Normally, she was the one cutting in to get the last remark.

Alicia remained silent as they climbed along the rocks together. She had felt her stomach flip-flop when Elyza informed her that she wasn't blind, and that she certainly wouldn't stop her from joining her if she wanted to. Alicia wasn't so sure how she felt about that, but it confused her that she wasn't exactly against it either. Did she like girls? She had a feeling that she might actually like _this_ girl, which she couldn't really explain to herself at all.

It wasn't like she was blind either, she supposed.

"I can definitely handle myself though, so don't go getting any ideas.. I like to lead," Elyza added, as they made their way down along a ridge of higher rocks, where she jumped down first without letting go of the other girl's hand completely. She turned herself a little to make sure that she could help Alicia down, once she landed. Elyza found that she felt an almost instinctual need to make sure that the brunette didn't get hurt, tripping while climbing over these rocks or otherwise.

"Careful," The blonde warned her, furrowing her brow a little as soon as the words left her mouth. She wasn't typically a worrywort, that was more of her mother's game, Elyza herself was normally almost too reckless in nature. But there was something about Alicia, that weird feeling again.

"Whatever weirdo, you be careful," Alicia shot back at her, before jumping down from the rocks. She kept a hand on the pocket of her jacket so her phone wouldn't fall out. She was still grasping the blonde's hand once she was safely on the ground. "A girl with a broken ankle is no good to me."

Elyza smiled to herself as she helped the other girl down. She noted the way that the other girl kept the protective hand over her pocket while she jumped down. That phone must have been pretty important to her, judging by the way she treated it like gold.

Some habits were just hard to break, Elyza supposed. Her own phone hadn't been charged in days, but she knew that it was still tucked protectively into the bottom of her rucksack. Alicia would probably have a charger that she could use. She felt both happy and sick when she thought about all of the pictures of her family and friends that she had on her phone, the last semi-tangible proof of the people she had once known, seemingly in another life. She could understand not being ready to let that other life go, because she wasn't ready quite yet either.

"Me, careful? Hah!" Elyza laughed. She always found it easier to crack a joke than to face the facts, like the fact that she really ought to have been being more careful with herself. But it really wasn't herself that Elyza was worried about. She just had no logical explanation for why she was so concerned about Alicia either, especially above her own well-being, but she was.

"Did I leave out the part where danger is my middle name? Let's just worry about you, sweetheart."

The blonde couldn't stop the wolfish grin that was forming on her face, as she pulled the other girl along by her hand. She supposed that it wasn't really necessary, that death grip they had on each others hands, the terrain wasn't really rough enough to warrant clinging to each other, but she didn't want to be the first one to let go, if Alicia wasn't going to be.

It felt like a standoff of sorts.

Alicia had bristled at the nickname. That stupid grin was bad enough, but that _nickname._ That settled that then, Elyza _had_ been hitting on her. It wasn't like the blonde was subtle but Alicia was pretty sure that she was the first girl to actually flirt with her, so she wasn't entirely sure. Either way, for some reason she had yet to explain to even herself, she honestly didn't mind. It was kind of nice.

It was better then the weird looks Chris had been giving her. Maybe he would back off once he met Elyza later, she certainly wasn't shy about being forward.

"I am _not_ your sweetheart," Alicia said, scrunching up her nose. "And you should really be more careful, Miss Danger. People are _dying_ out here. You should try not to be one of them."

She didn't know why she was so worried. Elyza had obviously been doing fine surviving on her own up to this point, but Alicia honestly couldn't help it. Elyza's hands were already bandaged from something and she didn't want to see any more of the other girl wrapped up like that. Maybe it was because she hadn't been able to save Matt, or maybe it was because everything else in her life was so out of control that worrying about Elyza's hands was the easiest way for her brain to cope, but Alicia was already getting irritated at the thought of Elyza potentially hurting herself again by doing something stupid.

"Oh, you don't like sweetheart?" Elyza laughed, as soon as Alicia started getting her panties all in a bunch once again. Didn't Alicia realize that when she gave her an adorable reaction like that, it only made the blonde want to razz on her more? She really was too easy, that settled it. She wanted to reach out and gently boop that scrunched up nose, and she wasn't entirely sure that Alicia wouldn't bite her finger off if she actually did it.

She couldn't deny or explain the strange flutter in her chest that she felt though, as she realized that Alicia seemed genuinely concerned about her wellbeing in return, even if she was trying to act like a stubborn asshole about it. Even though the brunette was trying to play it off as self interest, the blonde could tell that she meant it, she really did want Elyza to be careful. It made Elyza smile easily again, even though the mention of people dying almost drudged up those memories she kept trying to push down.

She just pushed them down again, and gently nudged Alicia with her elbow as they walked.

"How about sweetcheeks?" Elyza offered her, grinning, "We can try pookie? Or sugartits? You can take your pick, really. I'm not choosy."

Alicia wondered how easy it would be to strangle the other girl, as Elyza listed off the alternatives. She might not have been very big, but she certainly had the element of surprise on her side. She had never met a person that she wanted to strangle and kiss so simultaneously. She _hated_ pet names, and she had always told Matt that if he started calling her by one, she would castrate him. But the way Elyza threw her head back and laughed, that almost made it worth it.

 _Almost._ Alicia would rather die than let the blonde girl refer to her as any of those names.

"How about none of those," she spat. "I already told you, my name is _Alicia._ "

"And I told you mine is Elyza Danger Lex. At your service, _sweetheart,_ " Lyza laughed back, "If I was going to die out there, don't you think I would have already? I mean, I've made it this far.. I must be a little badass, right? You can admit it, I won't tell," Elyza teased her.

"If I trip on a rock and die now, that would be a pretty big cop out, don't you think? I'd definitely have a bone to pick with.. somebody. Wherever we go after.. all this, I don't know." Elyza tried not to think about that too much either, the after stuff, because all of that existential crisis stuff just messed with her head. Dead was dead, and dead was gone, and she wasn't particularly planning on dying today.

Elyza felt like, for the first time in awhile, that she actually had a reason not to risk it all or give up on everything, so long as this girl was walking beside her. She really couldn't explain it coherently or verbalize it, not even to herself, but there was that undeniable feeling of protectiveness that she felt toward Alicia. Even though she barely knew the other girl, she wanted to take care of her, somehow, in addition to getting under her skin.

She wanted to protect Alicia, and it was like Elyza couldn't shake this strange feeling that she had already failed to protect her once before. Which was impossible, given that they'd only known each other for half an hour or less. They were barely acquaintances. She couldn't shake it though, it was nagging.

"That's a stupid name," Alicia muttered. There was that dumb laugh again though, the one that made her heart feel lighter than it had in a long time. She didn't like it one bit. She definitely preferred Elyza's staring over Chris, but it still made her uncomfortable. She had gotten into the routine of blending into the background ever since her father died. It was weird to suddenly be the focal point of this girl's attention.

"Whatever, fine. You're like, the smallest amount of badass possible." Alicia admitted. "Like a pinch of salt. Just, will you watch where you're going, _please?_ Why are you staring at me anyway?"

It would have been a pretty stupid name, which Elyza supposed was why it wasn't what her parents had actually named her. But she had to say, even as a joke, Danger as a middle name sounded a lot more badass than Abigail ever did.

The blonde girl was visibly pleased when Alicia caved in to her, enough to admit to Elyza being marginally badass. It wasn't perfect, but it was something. She would break down this girl's walls eventually, she was sure of it. "I'm watching where I'm going, _mother_. You've got my hand, don't you? Don't stress," the blonde waved off Alicia's warning with her free hand, smiling. "I'm a badass, I know where I'm going."

She really, really, wasn't as full of herself as she acted.. honestly, she wasn't. Most of the time. But it really was just too fun at the moment to keep toying with the brunette. Elyza really hadn't had such a carefree exchange in so long, she had almost forgotten how good it felt to have easy, comfortable banter with someone else. The blonde felt like she was joking with her very best friend, not just some girl that she had run into on the rocks a few minutes before.

She thought of pointing out, once again, that she was _not_ blind and that was obviously why she was staring at Alicia. But she thought better of it, shrugging instead before turning away slightly as they continued down the beach, hands still entwined between them.

Elyza couldn't say why, but she felt like she would lay down her life for this easily flustered, snobby girl with her precious iPhone and her cute shorts. She'd either lay her life down, or give it up fighting for her. It was definitely a weird realization, weird enough that she kept it to herself, even managing to go quiet for a few moments while she gazed out toward the ocean again, instead of looking at Alicia. Since she was being so uppity about her staring.

"Pretty view, huh? I bet you're used to it though. You've probably seen all of the nice things in LA, right Bel-Air?" Elyza quipped, trying to change the subject. She knew she had misspoke as soon as she saw the offended look on the brunette's face.

"I'm sorry, _what_ did you just call me? I am not from Bel-Air!"

"Oh, my mistake, Fresh Prince. Bel-Air must just be where your summer home is, right? How many bathrooms do you have, up in your mansion on the bluffs? Five, six and a half? That's a lot of showers together," Elyza joked, with a sly smirk.

Alicia glared at the other girl. "We came from Sherman Oaks, okay?" She grumbled. "And yes, the ocean view is amazing.. way prettier than looking at you."

Alicia didn't look at the ocean for too long, though. Every time she looked out at the ocean, she thought about Matt and how he never did meet her at the beach. She looked up at the cliffs instead. "How much farther is your stupid camp anyway?"

"It's really not that much farther," Elyza explained quickly. Despite being slightly annoyed by the dig about her face being a less than amazing view, and despite her hands being a little sore, Elyza found herself squeezing Alicia's hand, turning away from the water so that she could face the brunette more fully.

"But fuck off, seriously, Sherman Oaks? I'm from Encino- well, not _from_ Encino, but I lived in Encino! We were practically neighbours," Elyza informed the other girl excitedly, "How about that, jack? Cute little you and ugly old me, our moms probably shopped at the same Whole Foods and we didn't even know."

Alicia couldn't help the small smile that tugged at her lips. What if they had met before all of this had happened, how different would things be? Alicia wondered if she would have felt as comfortable around the blonde. Maybe there was just something about the apocalypse that made it easier to trust this girl, but that seemed a little backwards to her. If anything, she should be more wary, but there was just that something about Elyza.

"Seriously." Alicia said with a small laugh of her own. She wondered where Elyza was actually from, her accent wasn't super thick but it was definitely present, there was a hint of something to her speech. Alicia figured it would be a bad idea to ask right now though. It would be like the family question.

"They probably did go to the same Whole Foods," Alicia added, wrinkling her nose. She wondered if her mother had even noticed she was gone yet. It had been a while since she had left the house, and she _had_ promised she would only go on a short walk down to the water and then come straight back.

"You never know," Elyza shrugged, managing a weak grin despite the weird pang of sadness that she felt when talking about the past. "We might have met in the frozen aisle and totally fallen in love."

It was unfortunate that they'd never really know how close they'd been to meeting each other in a normal life, all joking aside. She and her mother would never go shopping for groceries again, her mother would never do much of anything ever again. And Whole Foods was most definitely closed for the foreseeable future.

It really was weird to think how close they had lived to each other though, a matter of miles, all the while without running into each other in any significant way. It made Eyza kind of sad; despite the light-heartedness of their conversation at the moment, the end of the world wasn't the ideal setting for meeting a girl that made your heart flutter like no one ever had before.

She wished that there didn't have to be such a dreary backdrop to their reality. She wished simple things like talking about her mom didn't make her feel so down.

Alicia rolled her eyes, but she smiled. "You're funny. Where the hell have you been all my life, Elyza Danger Lex?"

"I don't know where I was, love, but I wish it was with you," Elyza answered her, a touch more seriously than she intended to. It just sort of came out, and it didn't come out half as flirty or sarcastic as her other retorts, the sincerity of her own words even surprised Elyza herself.

"Hey. Elyza, it's going to be okay, you know?" Alicia said softly. She'd only been kidding around, and she couldn't explain it, but seeing that brief flash of pain on Elyza's face when she answered made her own heartache. Alicia couldn't help feeling like she wanted to protect this girl from all the horrible things in the world.

She was caught off guard by the sincerity in Elyza's voice, but she couldn't help but share the same sentiment. "Honestly, and I swear to god if you take this the way that I know you're going to, I'll fucking murder you, but I kind of wish the same thing."

There was an undeniable increase in Elyza's pulse as soon as she realized what Alicia was saying, that she felt much the same way; that things would have been better if they'd been thrown together sooner. She knew the other girl told her not to take it the wrong way, but what other way was there to take something like that? It was probably as close as she was going to get for the time being, to getting the other girl to admit that she might be reciprocating some of the strange things that Elyza was feeling about her.

Elyza was quick to try to recover, trying to come up with a quick retort. It was easier to do that than to admit that she might have just accidentally put her heart on her sleeve there for a second. She didn't even know why she done it, but she knew that what she said was true. She felt it. Like everything else she felt lately, Elyza tried valiantly to push it down with the rest.

"How am I supposed to take that?" The blonde asked, scoffing and sticking her tongue out at Alicia. "You know that I'm hot shit, why are you lying?"

Girls just didn't blush that way when you teased them, not if they didn't at least like you back a little.

Alicia stuck out her tongue out at the blonde in return, blushing all over again. God, it was annoying, the way Elyza kept making her heart flutter and her cheeks burn that way. What the hell was wrong with her?

"You just want me to admit I think you're _sexy_ ," Alicia teased. "Which I _don't_ for the record, but I guess you're not too bad to look at. You could use a shower or something, but I guess you have some rugged charm."

"Or something," she added quickly. She wasn't flirting back with Elyza, or anything. She was just enjoying their easy banter, at least that was what she kept telling herself.

They were coming up upon Elyza's campsite, the bright blue of her tarp tent standing out first, whipping a little in the wind where it was pitched further down the shoreline. Elyza was glad to see that nothing really looked like it had been disturbed in the short time that she was gone. It had been a quiet place to stay so far, and she was glad that it seemed to have remained that way. She was admittedly excited at the prospect of being able to sleep in a real bed tonight instead of on the sand though.

"Oh, wait, wait. Miss Thing thinks that I'm sexy? You've just said it, I heard it with my own two ears! You totally want me!" Elyza laughed brightly. Alicia had at least admitted she'd been looking at her, which was just as good, and therefore Elyza couldn't help the grin spreading across her face while she teased the brunette. She winked at the other girl, as she led Alicia closer to the campsite. Elyza finally let go of Alicia's hand at long last once they had reached the area where her tent was laid out, and the blonde felt a little better just being back in her element, surrounded by the closest thing that she had to familiarity lately.

"You keep bringing up this shower thing.. what, do I smell or something?" Elyza asked her new companion, as she stood there trying to decide what to do first to pack up efficiently. She almost lifted an arm to check herself, but it seemed too crass. She settled for pointedly pouting at Alicia instead. "I do bathe, you know.. like, in the ocean? It's all water, it's all good!" It was cold water, and Elyza hadn't actually have any shampoo or soap with her, honestly, but it still feel good to rinse off sometimes. When Elyza first reached this shore, she must have floated in the water for an hour, just letting the blood and grime and everything else just wash off her, finally.

It had been like heaven. But for the most part, she had only been dipping into the water intermittently ever since. She totally did _not_ smell though. She was pretty sure that she didn't need a shower half as much as Alicia kept implying.

The pout the blonde girl gave her was enough to make Alicia crack and smile again. "That doesn't make it any better, dumbass. Fish shit in the ocean, so you're taking a shower when we get back to the house, end of discussion."

It wasn't like Alicia was already planning how she would stand outside of the door the whole time to make sure her brother or Chris weren't going to sneak a look at her new friend. Nope, not at all.

"Okay, whatever, I'll take a bloody shower for you.. but I'm telling you right now, you can't wash off sexual attraction, love. You're still going to want me when I'm clean, maybe more actually, when you see how cute I look with wet hair," Elyza joked.

"But are you going to wash my back for me, or what? You do mine, I'll do yours? What are new friends for, right?"

And with that remark, Elyza crouched down so that she could disappear into her tent, gathering up her meager amount of possessions so she could stuff them back into her rucksack. She was pretty sure that normal friends almost definitely didn't do those sort of things together, something Alicia would be sure to point out, but where was the harm in a little more teasing? She couldn't see the brunette from inside of the tent, but knowing that Alicia was probably outside blushing, was enough to make Elyza grin all over again while she packed her things.

She didn't have much, but what she did have, Elyza considered important. She had a few sentimental things, but mostly just enough to get by with. She needed to get a gun, that was something big lacking in her supply chain right now, but she was kind of hoping that when they got there, someone in Alicia's party might have an extra pistol or something that they were willing to part with.

Alicia hated to admit it, because it irritated her that the blonde might actually be kind of a badass, but while she wasn't impressed with Elyza's teasing, she was pretty impressed with Elyza's camp. She certainly wouldn't have been as crafty as the blonde had been. She had thought about what she would do if she got separated from her family, and the only thing she had come up with was breaking into other people's houses and staying there. This was probably safer though, camping by yourself, hidden away on the beach.

"Nice shanty, by the way," Alicia deadpanned from outside. "I'm impressed."

Elyza smirked, even though she was almost certain that Alicia was being sarcastic with her. "You should be impressed, I'm quite the woodsman. Let's just say I know how to take care of myself," Elyza quipped back with a shrug.

"Get to know me," She added, as she rolled up her blanket tightly and pushed it down into her bag, stuffing a half eaten packet of beef jerky into one of the many pockets on the side of the bag. She was already nearly done and she glanced quickly around the small living space she had created for herself, just to make certain that she had everything. She probably should have taken the time to shake the sand out of her blanket and bedroll before packing them, but too late now, and she was eager to get back outside and rejoin Alicia.

Elyza couldn't shake an uneasy feeling, when she couldn't lay her eyes on the other girl. She didn't think that Alicia was in any immediate danger, she was sure that the brunette would get her attention if she saw anything coming outside, but Elyza didn't like the idea of not being able to keep an eye on Alicia herself. It made her distinctly uncomfortable.

Alicia crossed her arms over her chest again, while she waited for Elyza. "Yeah, yeah, okay Miss Woodsman on the beach," she said. "Just hurry up, please. I told my mom I'd be back by now, and she's in aggro mode right now, so if you're really coming with me, we better get going back."

"Well, we wouldn't want to keep your mommy waiting, eh princess?" Elyza teased, as she finally emerged from the tent again, her head and shoulders popping out from under the tarp first before the rest of her soon followed. She had her backpack on her shoulders, and she stretched her arms dramatically up over her head once she was standing up again, letting out a satisfied groan when she managed to get a satisfying cracking sound from her back. That felt much better.

"I want to make a good first impression on my future mother in law, trust me. I don't need her angry at me already," the blonde joked, reaching out to gently poke Alicia in the cheek with her index finger while the brunette scowled at her. "God, you're cute."

"Don't call me that," Alicia said almost immediately. Out of all the nicknames, she decided she hated being called 'princess' the very most. Alicia tried not to watch the other girl stretching, but she definitely was watching out of the corner of her eye. Was Elyza just as rugged under all those clothes? Alicia felt like she was probably a lot softer without her leather jacket, and her cocky attitude.

"And you better not call my mom something like that!" She added, sputtering and turning red all over again. Hell would freeze over before she married this clown. It only got worse when Elyza called her cute and poked at her cheek. It took every fibre of Alicia's being to force down the stupid grin that was tugging at her lips, trying to turn it into a scowl instead. She was certain the deep red of her face was giving her away though, even as she tried to seem annoyed.

"Shut up, Lyza! I am _not_ cute. I am extremely badass and terrifying."

"Oh, the princess doesn't like being addressed as princess? My bad then," Elyza laughed, while she adjusted the straps of the pack on her shoulders.

The blonde made a mental note to store the use of the name _princess_ away for later. She was half surprised that Alicia didn't bite her finger off, considering how pissed off she initially looked Elyza poked her cheek, but the blonde could tell that the other girl was fighting down a grin of her own despite her irritation and it only made Elyza grin more wildly. She moved over to begin pulling the couple of stakes and things out of the ground that she was using to hold the tarp up into shape, smiling to herself all the while.

"You never know, sweetheart.. your mother might actually really like me. I'm great with moms. And I love older women. Is your mum half as gorgeous as you are? If she is.." Lyza trailed simply off, chuckling to herself as she pulled the tarp free and quickly began folding it up as best as she could.

The bunchy tarp probably wouldn't fit in her bag rolled up this way, but she had a little rope to tie around it, and it would be light to carry back to wherever they were going either way. She might not need a tent, but she might need one in the future. She kind of didn't want to get rid of it just yet.

As Elyza stood up straight again, with the crumpled up tarp tucked under one arm, she used her other arm to half cover her face, pretending to flinch from Alicia. "Oh, so badass and terrifying! Go easy on me, badass princess! I'm shaking in my boots!" She was laying it on thick, unable to keep herself from laughing as she joked with the brunette.

She didn't mean to say that Alicia wasn't intimidating, because she could obviously hold her own if she had gotten this far, so she had to be at least marginally badass.. but Elyza definitely thought that Alicia was way cuter than she was terrifying, that was for certain.

Neither one of them had even really thought about loud they were been being, chatting and laughing together, all of the way from the rocks and along the beach to Elyza's campsite, but in retrospect, Elyza supposed that it was something that they should have taken into consideration. The blonde had been so caught up in the light-hearted conversation they had been having, she had just been enjoying Alicia's newfound company so much, that she hadn't even thought about keeping it down.

Clearly, their noise level was something that they should have thought about, but hindsight was always 20/20.

Elyza's laughter was cut short as soon as the growling sound came, from further down the beach. Elyza heard it at the same time Alicia did, and she tensed up immediately when she did, her head whipping around. Elyza kept her bag on her shoulders but she abandoned the rolled up tarp entirely, dropping it to the ground and freeing up both of her hands. She reached over and grab Alicia by her nearest wrist, tugging it.

"Let's go," Elyza said authoritatively, her eyes focused on the rocks that were back the way they had come to get here. "Now," She added, as soon as she finally saw the source of the noise, a zombie slowly ambling over the rocks back in that direction. One of them, and then two, and then more of them, a lot more than she wanted to take the time to count right now. They couldn't go back that way to Alicia's family, it was blocked.

"Come on," Elyza urged Alicia again, already pulling the brunette hurriedly in the other direction, further along down the beach. It was back in the direction that she had originally traveled to get here. Eventually, it would lead back toward the city, she was pretty sure. Elyza still didn't know why, but her heart was racing at the idea of Alicia being in danger especially now that danger was imminent. She needed to get the other girl away from harm, and she felt like she would do whatever it took to do that, even if it meant putting herself in potential danger instead.

"We're going the wrong way," Alicia said finally, trying to sound annoyed instead of scared. Hadn't she just been singing herself praises of how badass she was? Well, that had been before that huge horde of those things had ambushed them. She had to get back to her family. Her mother would be worried, and so would Travis and Nick.

She was kind of worried about them, to be honest. What if her family had encountered those things before they wandered down the beach? Were they even still at Strand's house, or had they fled? Were they hurt? Her mind was racing.

"This is the way to staying alive, so therefore, this is the right damn way," Elyza informed Alicia bluntly, never relenting that firm yet gentle grip on the other girl's wrist; she wasn't rough but she was insistent. Elyza didn't intend to snap at Alicia, but it had all came tumbling out before she could really stop herself. She immediately felt a little guilty.

She could tell that the brunette didn't want to go this way, but considering what was waiting for them in the other direction, they just couldn't go that way. It really wasn't an option. Unless they fought their way through the crowd, or found a way around them, both of which would take time and a little bit of luck on their part.

Running away was the smartest, safest option right now despite how much Elyza hated the idea of acting like a coward. Especially in front of Alicia, after they had both been boasting about being the badasses. She was only thinking of getting the other girl out of harm's way though. She couldn't fight the feeling that she really had no other option, protecting Alicia was paramount. She didn't even care about getting herself out, so long as the other girl was okay, and that was a strange realization

She couldn't explain why, but she felt like she owed Alicia that, at least.

"Lyza, seriously," Alicia protested, more forcefully. "We have to go back. What about my family? I need to know they're okay, they need to know that I'm okay!"

Elyza realized then that Alicia did not intend to take to her heroic intentions quite so easily. She could tell by the tone of voice that Alicia took with her, as soon as Alicia told her to stop again. Elyza normally would have taken the time to tease the other girl a little for calling her Lyza, a nickname of her own so soon and how cute, but now was not the time. There was not a hint of humour in Elyza's previously grinning face, she was in a completely different mood, a completely different mode.

Their lives were in danger right now, which was the only thing Elyza was concerned with in the moment.

She sympathized with Alicia, she really did, especially because Elyza knew the pain of leaving family behind. She sure as hell hadn't want to run when her father told her and her little brother to run away, but Elyza had heard the tone in his voice, saw the look in his eyes, and she had run like hell anyway. Sometimes that was just what had to be done. She would carry that with her forever, that she ran away, even though it was what her parents had wanted her to do. She hadn't wanted to leave them behind. She knew where Alicia was coming from, and it made it harder to find the right words to convince her otherwise.

"Alicia, come _on_ ," Elyza tried again, pulling her wrist once more. "We can't just stop."

Alicia dug her heels into the sand, yanking back on the grip the other girl had on her wrist. "I can't leave them."

Slowly but surely, Elyza began to realize that she was going to have to lay things out flat to Alicia, no holds barred. Especially when Alicia began purposely struggling against the grip Elyza had on her, pulling the both of them to a complete stop with her sudden refusal to go any further along the beach. Elyza couldn't drag an unwilling girl any further, it would be like trying to pull dead weight, by the arm.

Even if there was no way that Alicia weighed that much, even soaking wet, it wouldn't be an easy task. They didn't have much time to talk it over, those things moved more than quickly enough to be a mild threat, especially when there was a pack of them on their heels. If you underestimated them, that was when you ended up dead, and Elyza wasn't going for that look today. Just talking straight to Alicia seemed like the best course of action to snap the brunette into reality.

"Look," Elyza began, once Alicia had stopped them. She turned around so she could be face-to-face with the slightly taller girl. Elyza kept the original grip that she had on Alicia's wrist, but reached out without hesitation for the other one, grabbing Alicia's other wrist with her other hand so that she could hold both of the brunette's arms tightly in her grasp while their eyes met.

"You need to listen to me, real talk, and do what I'm telling you to do. We're not going back that way. It's not safe, so the shower is going to have to wait. That direction is out of the fucking question, okay?"

"Your family.. well, either they're just fine, or they're not. If you die trying to go back and find out, then you'll never know, sweetheart. _You_ need to survive if you want a chance to get back to them and show them you're okay. So think a little, why don't you? I'm not asking you to leave them forever, Alicia, I'm telling you to think fucking logically. Just you and me, versus _all_ those things? Do the math. It isn't gonna end bloody well."

She wasn't trying to be harsh with Alicia, but it was still kind of unintentionally coming out that way. Elyza was just on edge, tense. Worried that something, anything, could happen to this beautiful girl that she barely knew and it would all be her fault. There was still not even a hint of a smile on Elyza's face, but her expression and tone both softened a little once she let go of one of Alicia's wrists and used the free hand to reach up instead, brushing her palm affectionately against the brunette's cheek.

Elyza knew they were running low on time, really low on time, but she just couldn't seem to break eye contact with the other girl, even in such a moment of high stakes. She was lost in them for the moment. They were the most beautiful seawater green, the prettiest green eyes that Elyza had ever seen. The green of Alicia's eyes kind of distinctly reminded her of the water of Atlantic ocean. Home, familiarity, everything that she wanted. Now was not the time to get lost, but Elyza really couldn't help it. The intensity in the way Alicia was staring back at her didn't help.

Alicia's jaw was still clenched in defiance as Elyza spoke sense to her, sea green searching sky blue as they stared each other down, but the brunette's face softened the second that Elyza touched her cheek.

"You are my priority, Alicia. End of story. I- I can't let anything happen to you- not again, I just can't," Elyza blurted with finality, as if that settled matters. "I won't."

Elyza was half confused with her own words as soon as the words left her mouth, and now it was her turn to feel the flush in her cheeks. What the hell did she mean by that? It just sort of.. came out, the promise of protection slipped from her tongue like it was the most natural thing in the world. She felt it, even if it didn't make sense to her. Elyza felt like there was so much riding on this, and she felt like it was some imperative, strictly because of she had failed so badly at it before.

But failed at what, exactly? And when? How? She was so confused by this girl and just everything about her, everything Alicia inexplicably made her feel, things she didn't even fully understand. She didn't understand how a stranger could make her feel this way, but in the mess of the world, here they were.

"What? I don't-" Alicia stuttered back, trying to formulate a proper reply. The whole confession from Elyza had pulled at her heart. She felt an enormous sense of loss and agony, and the overwhelming feeling of love. It made her head spin even more. It was like electricity. Alicia couldn't put into words the rush of emotions she felt as Elyza told her that _she_ was Elyza's priority.

Even though she had just met her, Alicia knew in that moment that Elyza was serious, Elyza would never let anything bad happen to her. Alicia felt dazed. What the hell was happening? What did Elyza mean, when she said that she couldn't let anything happen to her _again_?

"Elyza, I don't understand…"

Honestly, Elyza had been half expecting for Alicia to keep arguing with her. Even though they both knew that all of her points made perfect sense. Elyza knew that Alicia would still want to go back for her family, deep down, even if she did agree to run for now. That was only natural. Elyza might have been more than a little reckless with her own safety, but she wasn't messing around now, not where Alicia was concerned. They really had to get running.

Elyza didn't entirely understand the last of what she had said either, or rather, why she said it out loud. Or why it rang so true with her. But it was out there now, and at least Alicia didn't seem to think that she was a creeper or something for saying it. Elyza had just wanted the other girl to know how serious she was, that she really did have every intention of protecting Alicia until her last breath. She had a weird feeling that Alicia knew anyway though, that maybe she understood it without Elyza even needing to say it aloud.

Somehow, she just got a good feeling that Alicia knew. They both understood how this would go, what their roles in this would be.

"Let's just go goddammit," Elyza insisted again, a little more aggressively, as she began to pull Alicia by her wrist again. Firmer this time, and still heading in the other direction, away from the campsite and the herd of biters. The lot of them were now stumbling and tripping their way over the rocky ledges that Elyza had teased Alicia about being careful on earlier, groaning and snarling. They were slowed a little by the terrain, but they were definitely gaining ground on the two girls. Elyza certainly didn't want to have to fight them all with just the hatchet that she had in her rucksack, their only weapon right now.

She really wasn't sure they could even take them on at the moment, certainly not all of them at once. Elyza wasn't one to admit defeat easily, but she was clearly beaten, just by numbers.

Elyza was very glad when Alicia actually gave in and allowed her to pull her along on the second tug, and it was a lot easier without Alicia dragging her heels, slowing them. Elyza felt a little numb, like she was running on autopilot as she continued to lead them along the shore, the two of them hurrying along in the sand, just above the line of the surf. Where they made their footprints in their haste, the waves came up behind them, to wash them away only a few moments later, like they'd never been there at all.

Honestly, Elyza didn't realize how long they were running in silence until a few minutes had passed, and she remembered that she actually hadn't said anything since her outburst at Alicia. It was foreign for Elyza to be so quiet, for so long. The blonde glanced back behind them, over her shoulder, seeing that the walkers hadn't given up their chase.. but they were a lot further back, now that she and Alicia had sped up and gained a little more ground.

There were a few leaders of the pack, some shambling along faster than the rest of the herd and setting the pace, but even the faster biters were a safe distance away for now, so long as the two of them kept moving away. Well, it was never _truly_ safe as long as one of those things had you on their radar. They were hungry and violent, as well as relentless, something Elyza had learned firsthand on her way to the shore initially. If one of them saw you, heard you, or smelled you, they would give chase. But she thought, for now at least, they were moderately safe from the crowd behind them as long as they didn't let their guard down.

Elyza didn't let them stop walking, she was still too on edge to stop entirely, but she did let them slow down so that she and Alicia were actually walking again, instead of jogging down the beach. Very softly, she gave Alicia's hand a little squeeze as they slowed down. Lyza gently tickled the inside of the brunette's wrist with her fingertips, smiling weakly, apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I- I don't know what else to tell you. I'm sorry. We just have to keep going for now," Elyza offered her new companion, though she knew that it wouldn't truly offer the other girl much comfort about her family.

"I promise this won't be it, okay? You and your family, we'll- we will come back around, we'll go up to the top of the bluffs and go the long way around, if we have to. We'll find them for you," She added, while she tried to be steady and firm in her tone. Elyza hoped that was at least a little more reassuring. Even if it was going to be a tall order to deliver, she would try.

She squeezed Alicia's hand again, trying to get the brunette to buck up a little. "I will be taking you up on that shower together, sweetheart," Elyza teased her. "So we'll have to find out way back 'round to yours eventually anyway, right? Trust me, I've got this."

"Yeah, okay," Alicia agreed softly. She wasn't really paying attention, the words were only half heard, but Elyza's constant attempt at reassurance was making her feel slightly better. How far had the even gone down the beach? She had no idea, they'd just been running, further and further away from her family.

The weak words had no sooner left Alicia's mouth, however, before Elyza's ears picked up on a familiar low groaning sound, but this one sounded much closer than the chorus of groans coming from behind them.

Elyza barely had time to react properly, as a lone biter came rushing out from their left, in the direction of the bottom of the cliff they were following. He looked pretty emaciated, even for a freshly dead guy, like he'd been down here a while, and Elyza wondered briefly if he had just been sitting there laying in the sand, playing 'dead' while waiting for some potential prey to walk by. Elyza didn't know if it had been the sound of her and Alicia's talking, or the noise from zombies following them, but something had roused him back round to alertness.

It really didn't matter why it happened, only that it was happening.

Her only moment of faltering was the one second that it took for her to untangle her grip from Alicia, pushing the brunette behind her slightly, and then Elyza reacted without hesitation. There was really only a few seconds for them to react, before the element of surprise would have allowed that thing to get one up on them, but Elyza wasn't going for that. She slid her backpack one shoulder swiftly, giving herself a chance to reach in and quickly grab her hatchet, where the handle was sticking out of the side.

In one seamless motion, the blonde liberated the little axe from her bag and without missing a beat, Elyza whirled around and buried the blade of the hatchet into the dead man's skull, right in the center of his forehead. She gave a triumphant cry when the axe found it's mark, stopping the walker in his tracks. While theatrical, Elyza's crowing did cover up the sound of the skull splitting under the axe.

"Fuck that!" Elyza spat, though the biter obviously gave no reply to her angry words. It was as indifferent to them as ever. It wasn't quite dead, still trying weakly to bite at the blonde with the last of his strength, until Elyza freed the hatchet from his skull, freeing the blade from his head with a wet squishing sound. Elyza hit the biter in the head with the hatchet again, harder, taking him out with the force of the second blow and this time hearing the distinctive crunch of the skull under the force of her blow. .

"Holy shit," Alicia said, as she stared at the crumpled man on the ground. She had watched in awe, frozen in a mix of wonder and fear, as Elyza took the infected man down. She hadn't even flinched when she felt some of the blood from Elyza's axe splatter onto her face. "Holy fucking shit, that was.. amazing."

As much as Alicia's conscious mind hated to admit it, that was pretty damn sexy the way that Elyza stepped up in the moment.

Elyza's heart was racing a mile a minute as she pulled the hatchet free the second time, kicking the crumpled man on the ground with the toe of her boot. He didn't move again. She felt her heart skipping a beat, as she realized just how close she had come to letting that thing surprise them. She had been so focused on trying to apologize to Alicia for snapping at her, and assure her that things would be okay, she might have missed him coming if he had been a little quieter

It could have been bad. Elyza was grateful that she had good reflexes, at least.

"You okay?" She asked Alicia after a quiet moment, genuinely concerned for the brunette. She had barely finished killing the walker in front of them, but Elyza was already grabbing Alicia by the hand again, and tugging her onward. The ones behind them wouldn't have slowed their pursuit, just because they stepped for a few moments to deal with a lone walker. She kept the hatchet in her other hand, at the ready.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Alicia assured Elyza. She was so swept up in the whole ordeal that she couldn't even pretend to be annoyed or unimpressed, because frankly, she was neither of those things. But then Elyza was grabbing her again and pulling her farther down the beach and she didn't really have much time to think about it. Alicia wasn't really concerned about herself, to be honest.

She wasn't the one that had just taken one of those things down with nothing more than a little camping hatchet.

Elyza was silently glad when Alicia confirmed that she was okay, even though Elyza had been pretty sure that she was fine anyway. The blonde girl had been extremely quick to put herself between Alicia and the potential threat, as soon as it appeared, and the thing hadn't even really gotten to open it's mouth in Alicia's direction before Elyza had managed to dome him with the axe. But still, it was good to hear from the brunette's own mouth that she was doing alright.

Honestly, Elyza knew that Alicia was probably only physically fine anyway; she knew that the other girl probably wasn't really fine at all, at least emotionally. There was bound to be a lot going on in the brunette's head at the moment. But there wasn't anything that Elyza could do for her at the moment to really help any of that. They just had to keep heading toward a safe place and then regroup, just figure everything else out when they got there.

She really wished that there was something more that she could do for Alicia, a way to make up for being indirectly responsible for getting her separated from her family, she really did, but what more could she really even do? Elyza might have been able to take down one or two errant walkers, but there was still no turning back. She knew that she wouldn't stand a chance against a whole herd, even with her adrenaline running as high as it was from that kill.

Maybe if she had a gun, or maybe Alicia had any kind of weapon at all to use, but it just wasn't viable right now. Elyza wanted to believe that they were still doing the right thing by continuing in the direction that she had chosen for them, but the right thing wasn't always the easiest thing. She was sure that this decision, to run away, would stay with the brunette for a long time and the guilt of knowing that she was the one who put Alicia in the position where she had to make that decision would stay with Elyza just the same.

"Good," Elyza answered anyway, squeezing Alicia's wrist gently in her grip as she led the way. "I'm glad."

"You're okay too, right?" Alicia asked, studying the blonde girl with worry as she was leading them down the beach. There was a hint of panic in the brunette's voice. She had kind of blanked out back there, it all happened so quickly. "He didn't scratch you or anything, did he? You're sure?"

Elyza couldn't help but to smile broadly when Alicia asked if she was okay. "I'm fine, cutie. Just worry about yourself, huh?" She reminded her, winking at the brunette coyly as they walked.

"Not even a scratch on me, yeah? I'm good as long as you're good," Elyza reassured her.

It was the unexplainable, honest truth. Elyza was not really the type of person that went out of her way to put herself out there just to protect other people, or stand up for them. Elyza was no hero, she was more of an instigator than a savior, but it felt so different with Alicia. She wanted to protect her, and see her be safe. In the face of an otherwise bleak and lonely existence, it suddenly felt like the only goal in her life that had ever mattered, really.

"And hey, if I did get bit, least I'd have you round for my last kiss. Right, princess?" Elyza teased her, continuing to tug Alicia along by her arm. She was firm but gentle, guiding the way even though she wasn't entirely sure where they were going together beyond going _away_ , anywhere but where they were now. "C'mon now, keep up."

"Don't joke about shit like that," Alicia snapped at Elyza. She was frowning already at the thought, her brow furrowed in concern. She certainly _wasn't_ planning to be kissing the blonde at all, but the thought of a last kiss suddenly made her horribly depressed.

"I'm serious, don't you ever fucking leave me like that."

It had tumbled out of her before Alicia could really think about it, but it felt true though. The idea of losing Elyza, the idea of holding Elyza in her arms as she watched her slowly die, was devastating to Alicia. Maybe it had something to do with the way Matt was taken from her so suddenly, or perhaps it was because Elyza was all that Alicia felt like she had now. Whatever the reason, whatever it was, Alicia couldn't do it.

She jutted out her bottom lip and looked at the ocean instead of looking at Elyza as they continued to walk down the beach, in silence.


End file.
